For those of you that watch Tennis on TV, can you assess what's been going on with Jelena Jankovic within the past year? Abut a year ago, this young woman was #1 in the World and now can't seem to get past the Qtrs of anything. She just lost in the West Bank Classic against Bartoli who she should never lose to.

Jelena has a fantastic game, very strong baseline Player but is completely off her game as of late. Can anyone tell me what you think is her problem?

Coach

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08-11-2009, 09:49 AM

tennisking1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coach

For those of you that watch Tennis on TV, can you assess what's been going on with Jelena Jankovic within the past year? Abut a year ago, this young woman was #1 in the World and now can't seem to get past the Qtrs of anything. She just lost in the West Bank Classic against Bartoli who she should never lose to.

Jelena has a fantastic game, very strong baseline Player but is completely off her game as of late. Can anyone tell me what you think is her problem?

Coach

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My guess is this. Jelena does a lot of running when she plays. She put a ton of effort into getting where she is. After reaching the #1 spot and all the new found glory, it overwhelmed her. She seems to do a lot of photo shoots and such and probably has a lot going on outside of tennis. You know, Prada bags and Gucci clothing, etc. Friends start showing up and they start going out and having fun. I think goals get set such as "I am going to win a Grand Slam or I am going to get to the #1 position in the world" and then once they do it, there is nowhere to go but down. Players like Federer and Nadal and others seem to set the goal of "I am going to be the best". That goal has to be run after all the time, well after becoming #1 or winning a Grand Slam. Plus, Jelena had never had the attention that she got until she hit #1. Here came the newspapers and everyone else. She also may not like the pressure of having to be the #1 player in the world. Regardless of the answer, I think it is all mental.......

08-12-2009, 06:05 PM

Coach

That's a pretty good analysis TK and most likely very close to home. I would add to that which you probably said in a different way is what it's like to reach the #1 Spot while not winning a Slam. If I were on Tour, I believe I would rather win a Major than reaching the #1 Spot. You win enough majors and #1 comes to you and all players on the tour can respect that because you've obviously earned it. However reaching the #1 Spot without winning a major comes a load of pressure that in order to win the respect of your fellow players, you really need to win a major.

You mentioned our friend Tomas Muster once and like we acknowledged, he too achieved the #1 ranking by playing a ton of Clay Court events. Due to his accident, Tomas was somewhat restricted to clay courts because it's easier on the joints. So Tomas amassed a ton of points by playing just about every clay tournament around and for the extreme fan or player, you can literally find a tournament somewhere on the planet 52 weeks a year. If you play constantly and find yourself winning most of these tournaments, you will rack up the points this becoming #1 without winning a Major although Muster did win the French Open but the criticism was still about him not winning on hardcourts.

Well Jelena is another player that likes to play constantly and given she was good enough to reach either the finals or semis, she got enough to become #1. Huge problem for Jelena is the fact that she is a hard working baseline player. She is the Chang of the WTA. You can also add Rafa to this list.

There are obviously many more baseline players than S&V players however people like Rafa Nadal, Jelena Jankovic and Michael Chang use their legs as a weapon. Their ability to run down everything. Sometimes you gotta let a few go bye. You probably don't expect to hear this coming from a coach but one must decide which balls are worth the extra effort compared to what that effort will do to your body over time.

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08-12-2009, 09:09 PM

tennisking1

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coach

That's a pretty good analysis TK and most likely very close to home. I would add to that which you probably said in a different way is what it's like to reach the #1 Spot while not winning a Slam. If I were on Tour, I believe I would rather win a Major than reaching the #1 Spot. You win enough majors and #1 comes to you and all players on the tour can respect that because you've obviously earned it. However reaching the #1 Spot without winning a major comes a load of pressure that in order to win the respect of your fellow players, you really need to win a major.

You mentioned our friend Tomas Muster once and like we acknowledged, he too achieved the #1 ranking by playing a ton of Clay Court events. Due to his accident, Tomas was somewhat restricted to clay courts because it's easier on the joints. So Tomas amassed a ton of points by playing just about every clay tournament around and for the extreme fan or player, you can literally find a tournament somewhere on the planet 52 weeks a year. If you play constantly and find yourself winning most of these tournaments, you will rack up the points this becoming #1 without winning a Major although Muster did win the French Open but the criticism was still about him not winning on hardcourts.

Well Jelena is another player that likes to play constantly and given she was good enough to reach either the finals or semis, she got enough to become #1. Huge problem for Jelena is the fact that she is a hard working baseline player. She is the Chang of the WTA. You can also add Rafa to this list.

There are obviously many more baseline players than S&V players however people like Rafa Nadal, Jelena Jankovic and Michael Chang use their legs as a weapon. Their ability to run down everything. Sometimes you gotta let a few go bye. You probably don't expect to hear this coming from a coach but one must decide which balls are worth the extra effort compared to what that effort will do to your body over time.

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I think she is experiencing a little bit of burn-out from all of the training, running, and mental work she has done over the last few years. She finally started making millions of dollars in tournament money and endorsements, and I imagine shopping became an out for her. She has a plethora of "glamour shots" photos on the web. The reason Steffi Graf was so good was that her mind was focused on tennis and she kept her pleasures simple. I don't see many "glamour shots" photos of Federer. That is okay though, Jelena needs to be able to unwind. If the pressure is too high for her, then she needs to do what makes her happy. Maybe she will get that second wind and start giving it a go again. Same with Sharapova. Her biggest issue is her life outside of tennis. Dating rock stars and hanging out with the famous people. On top of that, she seems to do quite a bit of modeling. I imagine she is mentally drained. However, these girls get to choose what they do and they love the idea of beauty and fame. Ever remember Steffi modeling? No? That's because she was out there kicking everyone's arse!